The Ambergris Element
' |image= |series= |production=22013 |producer(s)= |story= |script=Margaret Armen |director=Hal Sutherland |imdbref=tt0832419 |guests= |previous_production=The Jihad |next_production=Once Upon a Planet |episode=TAS A13 |airdate=1 December 1973 |previous_release=The Time Trap |next_release=The Slaver Weapon |story_date(s)=Stardate 5499.9 |previous_story=The Time Trap |next_story=The Slaver Weapon }} =Summary= Exploring the seas of Argo, an unstable planet almost completely covered by water, Kirk and Spock are attacked - and regain consciousness as water breathers. They discover an underwater race, the Aquans. The younger Aquans, comvinced the surface dwellers come in peace, save their lives using ancient surgical techniques. The older Aquans beleive the "air-breathers" are hostile, and when Scott, learning of an impending sea-quake, beams down, the elders interpret his visit as the start of an invasion. Kirk and Spock are left on an island to die but Rila, a young Aquan, rescues them and giver McCoy her people's medical knowledge. The younger Aquans gather the substances needed to reverse the operation on Kirk and his people, and all watch from the starship bridge, as the Enterprise's phasers save their city from the quake. The younger Aquans decide to live on the surface of their world once again, while the older ones remain water dwellers. =Errors and Explanations= Nit Central # Benn (Benn) on Monday, January 08, 2007 - 12:03 pm - When the Argo sea serpent reawakens, and attacks the aquashuttle, Kirk and crew flee from the creature on the surface of the water. Why? Why not take to the air and thus out of the serpent's reach? The aquashuttle's anti grav system, which would be required for take off, may have been damaged in the attack. # Strange that after Kirk and Spock do not emerge from the wrecked shuttle, McCoy is so quiet. I'd expect him to be calling out Kirk and Spock's names. The silence seems so out of character for him. He's probably in shock. # Why don't they use the transporter to restore Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock to normal? It's worked twice before in TAS. The mutations could have been misinterpreted by the transporter scanners. # Part of the mutations the Captain and his First Officer were given included webbed-hands. I wonder if their feet were also webbed? If so, wouldn't it be easier for them to swim underwater barefoot rather than wearing their boots? They probably chose to keep the boots on to avoid losing them during the swim. # They need the ambergris-like substance from the sur-snake (or Aquan sea serpent as I've been calling it) to revert to their air-breathing selves. So Kirk and Spock ask some of the young Aquans for help in capturing one of the sur-snakes. Why? They have one readily available. The one that was killed by the ruins falling on it. The procedure may require ambergris collected from a living sur-snake. # Shouldn't there be an oxygen tank in the aquarium in case the antitoxin works? I mean, once Kirk's lung revert to normal, he's going to start drowning unless a scuba tank is nearby. Extra oxygen was probably supplied via a one way valve to cover this. # TWS Garrison on Tuesday, January 30, 2007 - 11:18 pm - Kirk seemed really laid back about the tectonic activity on Argo. Scotty tells him that a major, devastating earthquake is about to happen - which one would think would affect the Aquans - but he doesn't even try to warn the Aquans that it is coming. That could be considered a potential violation of the Prime Directive. # At the end of the episode, the Enterprise has the ability to control where earthquakes strike on Argo. Kirk even credits this knowledge as a something they learned that can help a Federation colony planet facing similar earthquakes. But we never saw them learning this from Argo---just applying it. They could have worked it out based on what transpired on Argo. # It was gutsy of Scotty et. al. to search for Kirk and Spock using what was basically a small motorboat in an area that had just had an attack from a large sea monster. If the sur-snake had come back for seconds, that skiff would have been toast. But was the risk necessary? Even though the only submersible shuttle had been destroyed, one would think regular shuttles could fly just above the water and see just as much as the people on the launch. Admittedly, I don't know that we've ever seen TOS-era shuttlecraft fly slowly or hover like helicopters---they might only handle more like fixed-wing aircraft. It might not have been possible to conduct a proper search from the air. # Keith Alan Morgan (Kmorgan) on Tuesday, January 19, 2010 - 3:42 am - How did the sur-snake pick up & throw the shuttle? Wouldn't it have needed to brace itself on something first? It's probably big enough to rest on the shallow bed near the bank. # Funny how McCoy's initial scan of Kirk & Spock missed their webbed fingers. This might not be easily visible at first glance. # Kirk says, "An intelligence that can cause this kind of mutation can change us back!" Uhhhh... yeah.... that's kind of the same logic that would assume the race that can chop off a head can sew it back on... Not necessarily - the science behind the artificial mutation may not be as advanced as originally thought. # They talk about the surface sinking, but isn't it more likely that the sea bottom was raised, since the amount of water didn't actually increase. The rock layer under the surface may have been sufficiently weakened to collapse in on itself. # Why would the knowledge gained from Argo help the other world facing this problem? Wouldn't a better solution be to evacuate that other world? There may not be enough time to carry out such a large scale evacuation. # Kirk says they are going to "change the epicenter of the quake". I get the feeling that the writer didn't know that epicenter is the point on the surface over the actual center of the earthquake. (Though technically changing the center of the quake would probably change the epicenter as well.) Kirk is referring to the epicentre as being the point where the quake is triggered, not the point on the surface over the centre of the earthquake. # Spock says, "The seabed should settle in a few hours". What? No aftershocks? The crew may have developed a method to minimise or eliminate aftershocks. Category:The Animated Series Category:Episodes